


burning witches

by nextstopparis



Series: camelove [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:02:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29342520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nextstopparis/pseuds/nextstopparis
Summary: Her whole world became the future the second she was born.
Series: camelove [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2151669
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9
Collections: Camelove 2021





	burning witches

**Author's Note:**

> actually i have no idea what this is. i was watching the disir ep and thought "you know, i bet their/one of their backstories must be interesting" and have been fixated on it since. ive just had a lot of problems w that ep, namely their price for arthur's future (it just felt too manipulative to me?) so this is like a VERY short take on that. 
> 
> for camelove day 3 :)
> 
> title from taylor swift (either mad woman or i did something bad lol)

Her whole world became the future the second she was born.

Her whole world was analysis and interpretation and the never ending conscious stream of  _ what if _ s and  _ what next _ s and  _ to what extent _ s. She’d been trained right next to her sisters - and they were her sisters, for they could never be anything less after all they’d shared - and it was hard. Confusing and frustrating and almost impossible. 

They said that it was an honor; called it a gift. 

She learned, quite early on, that when they said ‘honour’, they meant ‘responsibility’. When they said ‘gift’ they really meant ‘burden’. But of course, they knew no better. To them it would be no choice: this life of a secondary God over that of a fleeting, mortal one. If she offered - if she  _ could _ \- they would switch with her in a heartbeat. Quicker, maybe.

And nothing was ever fair at all.

Sometimes their interpretations took too long, and they had to move on before coming back. Sometimes they fought over and over again, revisiting and rethinking and re-explaining visions over and over again. There were so many ways to think; to feel and guess. 

_ Why doesn’t she just tell us herself? _ One of her sisters had asked, early on in their lives.

_ It is not our place to question the goddess, _ they would reply, angry and scandalized and never with an answer.

It was difficult, to be critical of all of time, and yet not question the one thing dictating it. Counter intuitive, really.

_ But how can we possibly analyze her word with any accuracy if we cannot even analyze her?  _ She had yelled, still young - still unwilling to bend. They had looked at her in disgust, questioned whether it was right that  _ she _ was chosen after all, and never gave her so much as a word for an answer.

She had wanted to yell, then. Scream at them to let her leave, scream that she didn’t want this either, just as much as they didn’t want it for her. But of course it was never that easy.

_ What about us?  _ Her sisters had asked.

_ We can make this place kinder, _ her sisters had bribed. __

And she’d believed them, because they must’ve been right. Interpretation could go so many ways, maybe if they really worked at it, they’d be able to decipher the decree of the goddess in the most merciful way possible (for some things weren’t up for interpretation at all: some things were only just tragedies).

But time made them weary. Abuse of power and fickle mortals who grew too entitled and believed they knew better made them angry. Soon the judgement they passed was fair, but spiteful; irrefutable to mere mortals, but angry. They became mirrors of those they passed judgement on; why protect mortals when they so carelessly disregarded their beliefs, their importance?

Questioning the goddess became second, third, last, after every passing offence. 

And when Arthur Pendragon entered their dwelling and begged on his knees for them to save his downfall, nothing had changed at all. Their spite against mortal men had been forged into their bones long ago - and this one, no matter how pitiful, would not change it.

So they tasked him with something fair, but impossible. A request worth consideration, but too reckless for a king to quickly accept. They bid him to accept it quickly, anyway, and knew that tomorrow he would return to seal his doom. They cackled when Emrys did not see through them until it was too late. 

They made sure it was always too late.

**Author's Note:**

> um. idk if anyone's gonna read this at all, but if you did, i hope you enjoyed it:)


End file.
